Another Day, Another Dollar
by mywand1
Summary: James gets home after a hard day's work to find Lily acting...funny.


My briefcase weighs alot heavier now than it did this morning. Or so it seems. As a matter of fact, I do believe I emptied out my case when I got to work this morning. 

Oh, it's been such a long day. It all started this morning when that ditz of a secretary spilled scalding coffee on my lap. Who knew such a pain could come from a beverage. I had to use a powerful cleaning charm to get it all out.

I had an hour in my office by myself. Not that it was a good hour. At times, it can be truly depressing being an Auror. I had tons of paperwork to deal with. The pictures that are clipped on the papers are the worst. The first one I seen was of a dead child of 4 years old. He and his family had been attacked during the night.

Once I had finished the paperwork, I had a meeting with my fellow aurors. These gatherings are so chaotic. People throwing things around, angry that Voldemort's attacks were coming so often. He's growing in power and there seems to be nothing we can do about it. The Dark Lord's powers are strengthening and his followers are becoming more loyal to him.

'Only 5 more hours of work', I tell myself. Then I go home to my beautiful wife and 2 month old son, Harry. I have the perfect family. My Lily, whom I've been married to for 3 years now, and Harry James. He's a very bright boy. Always taking my wand and catching things on fire. Lily and I have had to put several wards around his crib so he can't get out. And we have to put charms on everything in the living room. It's the only room he is allowed to stay in. Thank God he can't walk yet, or our house would already be a pile of rubble.

20 minutes later, I get an urgent message from the minister about my best mate, Sirius black. I can only imagine what trouble he and his motorbike have gotten into now. I run, well, jog quickly up to the minister's office to see what the situation was all about.

40 minutes later, outside the minister's office, I herded Sirius toward my office. His hands were cuffed in front of him, a self satisfied smirk gracing his features. I shook my head. "Sirius," I had said. "Are you trying to get me fired?" Sirius glanced over at me. "It's all in the name of fun." He said. "Who knew the minister's daughter was such a little fire cracker." I snorted. I was so close to losing my job do to my aquaintance with Sirius Black. One of these days, Padfoot's little charades would get him into some serious trouble.

4 hours and 2 minutes later, I am walking up my sidewalk toward my house. It is so good to be home. I grab the door handle when I notice something strange. First, the house was dark. Second, the lights were out. Third, I couldn't hear Lily or Harry. Oh, and the door was locked. That's great. Where could Lily be? I use the alohamora spell to unlock the door. As I slowly swing the door to the living room open, I hear a gasp, then a clatter of something metal.

"Lily?" I call. My wife steps out of the shadows.

"James?" Lily's femine voice sounded startled. "What are you doing home so early?"

I raised my eyebrow and set down my briefcase on the floor. She was acting oddly suspicious today. What could she possibly be up to? And where was Harry? Lily always brought him downstairs to meet me when I got home.

"What's going on?" I whispered. My red headed wife's eyes were darting back and forth in the kitchen. Was she looking for a way out? Lily shrugged.

"Nothing's going on." She said. Slowly, she walked over to me. "Why don't you go sit down in the living room. I'll bring you a cup of tea." As I was being pushed into the dining room, I asked, "What are you hiding from me, Love"  
"Nothing." Lily said. I narrowed my eyes at the lamp in front of me. Stopping dead in my tracks, and causing Lily to smack into my back, I asked, "What's in the kitchen?" It was at this point that I started getting worried. Was it another man? Could Lily be cheating on me? My lovely Lily? I turned slowly to face her. She avoided my eyes. Oh, God. It was Sirius. He beat me home and was trying to get with my wife. I'm gonna kill him. I brush past Lily and head towards the kitchen. Black only has a few steps to live. A Feminine voice is protesting behind me. Telling me to stop. 'Not the kitchen. There's nothing in the kitchen.' We'll see about that. I push the swinging door open and freeze. Soft light from 2 candles penetrate the remaining darkness of the kitchen. A wonderful smell radiates from the two dishes set elegently across from each other.

"Lily," I whisper. "I'm so sorry. I forgot our anniversary." The red head steps around me and also looks at the table.

"I just wanted it to be special." she said softly, almost regretfully. "I love you so much, I wanted to surprise you"  
I have never felt as guilty as I do right now.

"I love you, Lily. I shouldn't have taken my bad day out on you." I say to the top of her head. She finally looks up at me and smiles.

"It's okay." she says to me. "You'll just have to make it up to me later on." My eyebrows fly up. Oh, my Lily is a dirty girl. I smirk as wickedly as she does.

"Let me make it up to you now." I scoop her up and take her to bed. What a long night its going to be.


End file.
